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20111017

Updates: census, facebook rapist, farmer executed by cops

Meyersdal hi-jacker and arrested ‘ Facebook rapist’ the same man: and he was arrested by a suspicious private security guard; not by the cops: Oct 17 2011 – ALBERTON. Last week the local RECORD newspaper reported on a hi-jacking in Meyersdal – and its journalist Zelda Viljoen, after investigating the matter further, wrote that ‘the hi-jacker and the Facebook rapist appeared to be the same man: He was photographed at the failed Meyersdal hijacking attempt by a security camera – and he wore the same t-shirt to his first remand hearing in court. The Meyersdal woman he was trying to kidnap was very clever: she created a traffic-jam at a shopping centre which drew attention to Bester – and who then jumped out and fled – only to be captured later on by a suspicious private security guard. http://www.looklocal.co.za/looklocal/content/en/alberton/alberton-news-general?oid=4779414&sn=Detail&pid=1171113&Meyersdal-hi-jacker-and-Facebook-rapist-the-same-man

14 October 2011 |source: journalist Zelda Viljoen -- Alberton - On the afternoon of October 5, a man was arrested for what seemed like an attempted hi-jacking. What seemed to the police at the time to be a hi-jacker turned out to be the most wanted man in South Africa, Thomas Bester the notorious Facebook rapist. Thomas allegedly used up to 13 aliases. Bester alleged modus operandi was to lure very young women with offers of lucrative modelling and television-presenting jobs and then either stealing their belongings or raping them. In one case, a woman was murdered.

According to earlier, inaccurate reports Bester had kidnapped a woman in Alberton on October 4 and was arrested in a house in Alberton ‘where the police detained him for two days before they supposedly made the link between the kidnapper and Bester.” However, writes Viljoen: ‘these reports now appear to be untrue as the RECORD has exclusive evidence that Bester was first apprehended at a building site close to a local mall in Alberton. (picture above). After hijacking and kidnapping a lady in the Lenasia area, Bester told her to drive her to Meyersdal, where the lady managed to attract attention at a local Mall by stopping across the entrance to the mall and thereby blocking the traffic. Bester escaped (above) by running into the mall’s parking area, where he managed to get a lift with a contractor working at a nearby Nature Estate. Arriving at the entrance gate to the estate, Bester was refused entry as he did not comply with the estate's strict access security procedures. Security there then became aware, wrote Viljoen, ‘that he might be the same person they saw running away from the hijacked vehicle earlier”. Alerted also by his aggressive behaviour, and his efforts to remain out of sight from the street-view, Petros, a security guard with protective force security confronted him upon which Bester jumped into a delivery truck leaving the estate. The security guard became suspicious and the estate's reaction vehicle was alerted which gave chase and managed to stop the delivery truck at a building site in Michelle Avenue. Bester was apprehended by both the reaction officer and by Petros, who detained him together with backup from Protective Force until the police arrived on the scene. Petros told Viljoen that ‘he told one of the police officers that the suspect looked familiar and may even be the "Facebook" rapist as he has seen his face in the newspapers,’ but the police ignored him and only took down his statement concerning what seemed like a hi-jacking.

Petros told the RECORD that the police arrived without handcuffs but luckily he already cuffed the suspect. The SAPS was unavailable for comment at the time of publication but told the RECORD that they will comment on Monday, October 17. High ranking officers also refused to comment on the matter.

When the RECORD published the article on the incident of the hi-jacking in Meyersdal, last week, we could not yet confirm the identity of Bester as the RECORD was still busy compiling concrete evidence.

Durban magistrate Sharon Marks gave Bester 15 years' imprisonment for each of the two counts of rape. He was sentenced to another 15 years, with five years suspended, for each of the two counts of armed robbery with aggravating circumstances. On Wednesday October 14, Bester pleaded guilty to all four charges.

Laptop disappears from blind student's room after repeat-visits from Census-taker 2011-10-16 Volksblad journalist Jana van der Merwe notes that Gavin Harding, a sight-disabled student at the Universitas hostel of Free State University, was allegedly robbed of his special laptop after a visit by a census-taker. The Bloemfontein police investigate the incident. Some 10 students live in the hostel. The blind student, lives in a room by himself and studies law and criminology.

His friend Andre Erasmus said that particular census-taker had alredy visited the hostel four times since Wednesday.And the male census-taker asked some very strange questions, too: for instance he wanted to know how many laptops were in the hostel and whether the hostel had a vacuum cleaner.He also wanted to know people's identity number, how much money they earned and when they were going to finish their studies. 'The man only had Afrikaans questionaires with him while some of my hostel-mates are English, too'. "

Caption picture of questionaires: questions have also been raised about the peculiar sizes of the questionaires which can be downloaded from Stats-SA’s website. The black-language questionaire-files are only 10% the size of the Afrikaans- and English-language ones. People are questioning this: wondering whether black residents are being asked a lot less questions than are white South Africans.

On Wednesday-morning this man casually strolled in again. His name-plate was upside down. My hostel-mates got a big fright and let me know that the cencus man was in my room, by telephone.I rushed to the hostel at once. I gave the man an earful and remind him that there was a doorbell, and what was he doing searching my room without my permission'.The man then left. Friday-night, when we went to the shops, that man walked into the hostel again. Their blind roommate opened the door and the man walked in and demanded to know details about valuables such as laptops and vacuum-cleaners'.Erasmus said Harding was suspicious and realised that his laptop was missing and he could feel that the table on which it had stood, was still warm.He lodged a warning with the Park Road police who arrived to take fingerprints the same day. "And on Saturday-morning, the census-taker was back again. Then he wanted to know many more personal details.On Saturday-afternoon he returned again, this time allegedly 'to fetch questinaires'. Erasmus said they called the police. Capt Chaka Marope confirmed that the census-taker is 'a suspect in a charge of housebreaking and theft'. He was ordered to show up at the Park Road police station to make a statement. The census lasts until 31 Oct . Volksblad http://www.volksblad.com/Suid-Afrika/Nuus/Skootrekenaar-weg-na-sensusman-se-besoeke-20111016

Widow sues SAPS: farmer/gunsmith Kobus de Vries, died in a hail of police bullets: 2011-10-17 BABANANGO, KZN. Reknown gunsmith/farmer Kobus de Vries' widow is suing the SA police Minister for more than R4-million for loss of spousal support after her husband died in a police-siege. They attacked him for an allegedly ‘illegal arms-cache’ but every one of the firearms on his farms were legally-registered: he was a legally-registered, qualified gunsmith with all the necessary, legal permits.

Kobus de Vries, 54 (holding the dog), with his friends: he died in a hail of police bullets. Police first tried to have the public believe he’d committed suicide: with two gunshot wounds in the middle of his back, made with two different firearms.

On January 20, 2011 Babanango farmer Kobus de Vries, 54, died in a hail of police bullets when his homestead was surrounded by about 40 armed policemen.His widow, Rentia, who is a trained veterinarian, is taking the minister of police to court to hold him accountable for the death.In court papers filed this week by her legal representative, attorney Carel Taute, Mrs Rentia de Vries,m a veterinarianwho has since moved to Somerset West, is asking for R4 008 000 to compensate her for the loss of spousal support. She is also requesting interest on the amount. Taute said that Mrs Rentia de Vries had been looked after by her husband - who was reknown for his gunsmith skills amongst the Afrikaner community -- at R200,000 ($20,000) a year. She did not work at the time, but has since then, been forced to accept a poorly paying job because of her husband’s murder. he circumstances surrounding the execution-style killing of De Vries remain murky: http://censorbugbear-reports.blogspot.com/2011/01/boer-gunsmith-kobus-de-vries-another.html

SAPS spokesman Col Jay Naicker said at the time that the information at his disposal ‘indicated that De Vries was shot when he fired at local police and tactical response team members after a stand-off at his farmhouse”. However onlookers and witnesses dispute this vehemently: saying he was lured from his homestead by a ploy with a trust employee -- and was then gunned down in cold blood as he stepped outside his homestead. Initial police-reports claimed that he had ‘committed suicide’ – with two gunshot wounds in the middle of his back from two different guns... The legal matter now resides with the office of the state attorney, which has 20 court days to respond to the papers. http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/Farmers-widow-sues-police-for-R4m-20111017

The term "genocide" was coined by legal scholar Raphael Lemkin in 1943, writing:

'Generally speaking, genocide does not necessarily mean the immediate destruction of a nation, except when accomplished by mass killings of all members of a nation. It is intended rather to signify a coordinated plan of different actionsaiming at the destruction of essential foundations of the life of national groups, with the aim of annihilating the groups themselves.

The objectives of such a plan would be the disintegration of the political and social institutions, of culture, language, national feelings, religion, and the economic existence of national groups, and the destruction of personal security, liberty, health, dignity and lives of the members of such groups... '